


Waiting + Liver + Nerd

by katmariefrancis



Series: Sergeant+Rescue+New Friend [10]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: And Jack is obviously the worried dad, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Mac is, Some language as usual, Surgery, and matty totally wouldn’t admit it, but she’s def their mom, internal injury description, once again, organ transplant, reena’s big brother, warnings for hospital stay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 17:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18833401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katmariefrancis/pseuds/katmariefrancis
Summary: Reena’s condition doesn’t leave much room for hope, and the team’s worrying is sent into overdrive. It only gets worse after they have Mac to worry about, too.Or, Reena is in desperate need of something she won’t survive waiting for, but Mac is more than willing to step up and help.





	Waiting + Liver + Nerd

**Author's Note:**

> Woot woot the answer to your cliffhanger-induced prayers is here!!  
> I’d apologize except I don’t like to lie to people kind enough to read my stuffs  
> Also, I fucked up (again) and this is my second goddamn time posting this

PHOENIX CONTROL ROOM  
I REALLY WISH WE’D ALL STAYED IN BED TODAY

“Reena, no, come on, you’re okay.” I murmured to myself as I pulled Reena’s vest off. When Reena had come at me and pushed me out of the way, she had stretched enough for her vest to expose a strip of her stomach. The bullet had gone in just barely under her vest, and if we didn’t get her to medical soon, she would bleed out. 

“Mac, come on, help me get her up.” Jack said, pulling at me. Jack’s touch startled me into action and I helped Jack gather Reena into his arms. When she was secure, I let go and kept pressure on the wound in her stomach. 

“Guys, someone needs to talk to me here.” Matty demanded. “I’m hearing an awful lot of things I’m not liking.” 

“Reena shoved me out of the way, I guess one of the hostiles woke up and got ahold of a gun.” I said breathlessly. “She saw just before I did and shot the guy, but he shot her at the same time.” I just barely heard Matty sigh. 

“Katrina, can you hear me right now?” Matty demanded. I had never heard Matty call Reena Katrina. It was always Reena or Ryder. To others, Matty using Reena’s full name would seem harsh, but I knew that it was a sign of intense worry. 

“‘M gonna need some help with… that last mission you w’r gonna give me.” Reena said with difficulty. “Mac, that h’rts.” she mumbled. 

“I know, Ree, I know, you’re gonna feel better soon.” I said. “You just gotta hang on and stay awake, you think you can do that?” I asked. It was taking damn near everything I had to keep my voice steady. 

“Mac…” Reena murmured. “Thanks for giving me a home.” 

“Hey, hey, this kinda talk is dyin’ talk.” Jack said before I could say anything. “You ain’t dyin’ on us, are ya?” 

“Reena, you are under strict orders to get back to that home. Alive.” Matty said, voice firm. “Mac, Jack, how close are you to Medical? I let them know you were on your way.” 

“We’re in sight of the entrance.” I said. I could see medical staff rushing towards the doors. “See, Reena, you’re gonna be okay.” I said. “Come on, don’t tell me you’re fallin’ asleep on the job.” There was no answer, not even a slurred one. I looked down at Reena. 

Her eyes had closed, and I could feel only a faint pulse. 

“We need help!” I yelled. 

PHOENIX MEDICAL WAITING ROOM  
THE ONE THING I HATE ABOUT THIS JOB

“Mac!” I heard after only about ten minutes of sitting in the waiting room. 

“Riley!” I called back, standing up. I turned to see her walking towards me as fast as she could without running, followed closely by Bozer and Matty. I barely had time to brace myself before she crashed into me, wrapping her arms tightly around me. I closed my arms tightly around her shoulders, bringing a hand up to cradle the back of her head. I heard Bozer and Jack clap each other on the back a few times as I felt Riley’s chest hitch with suppressed sobs. 

“Mac, Jack, any news?” Matty asked as Riley pulled out of the hug. I could tell she didn’t want to, but she was doing it for the sake of appearances. She’d always been one to hold strong in the face of things like this. 

“Nothing since they sprinted off with her ten minutes ago.” I said miserably. “All I know is she was bleeding pretty bad and barely breathing.” 

“Bullet went in right under her vest, right here.” Jack said, gesturing to the area of his stomach a few inches above his belt. “She was bleedin’ pretty damn bad, boss.” 

“Well Phoenix Med is the best damn hospital around. She’ll be fine.” Bozer said firmly. “...Right?” 

“Yes.” I decided. “She’s going to be okay.” I took a deep breath, my brain starting to compartmentalize like it always did. “What do we know about the guys who attacked the place?” 

“Well one was a suspect brought in for interrogation, who then broke a guy out of lockup.” Riley said, sitting down and pulling out her rig. The rest of us sat with her. “I ran facial rec on the others and we have three ex-cons, two guys who aren’t even in any system, and, wait for it,” Riley paused, “two Phoenix agents.” 

“Moles.” I said, eyes dark. 

“Damn it.” Jack muttered. “Who were they?” 

“Agent Ryan Franklin and Agent Sophia Vasquez.” Riley said. I recognized both names. 

“Didn’t they work in the labs?” I asked. Riley nodded. 

“Boze and I worked with them a few times. How did we not catch this?” she murmured, guilt clear in her eyes. I got out of my chair and squatted right in front of her. 

“Riley. This is not your fault.” I said firmly. “None of this is on you or Bozer.” 

“Mac’s right.” Matty added. “Moles are trained to be unrecognized until it’s too late. Best we can do now is figure what they were after and get it more secure, and up building security even more.” 

“I’m guessing Reena’s going to want to work as soon as she can, so we can put her on that to keep her out of the field.” I suggested. Matty nodded. 

“For now, I’ll get as far as I can on my own.” Riley said. 

“And I,” Matty said, “will go find out what I can about Reena.” With that, she slid off her chair and walked off quickly, no doubt to go scare a poor nurse into giving her information. I sighed and sat back in my chair, resigning myself to another few hours waiting. 

Well, I thought so, anyway.

I’d been about to pull my headphones out of my jacket pocket when Matty came back, followed by a doctor. Both of them looked concerned. 

“Your boss came and found me just as I was about to come to you.” the doctor said, not even fully stopped yet. “Sergeant Ryder sustained serious internal injuries. The bullet hit a kidney, which we’ll be forced to remove, but it also, upon ricocheting, severely damaged her liver. Now, we can do a liver transplant, but she doesn’t have the kind of time to be put on a donor list. So what we can do is take half of someone else’s liver and put it in Reena’s body. Both parts of the liver will regenerate in their respective homes.” 

“Do any of you know for certain that you share the same blood type as Sergeant Ryder?” Matty asked. I stood up. 

“I remember reading in her file that she’s got the same blood type as I do.” I said. “Let me do it.” 

“Mac, bud, you sure?” Jack asked, also standing. I nodded, setting my jaw. 

“She saved my life.” I said. “The least I can do is save hers.” 

PHOENIX OPERATING ROOM  
EVERYTHING’S A LITTLE FOGGY AT THIS POINT

We rushed through pre-op so fast that I barely had time to provide answers to all their questions before they were sending me in for surgery. I don’t remember much of what happened after they put my IV line in, but I do remember seeing Reena laying next to me. I heard my heart monitor speed up for a few moments before a doctor started shushing me, telling me that I should calm down, that she’d be fine thanks to me. 

As I fell asleep, Reena’s entirely too pale face was the last thing I saw. 

PHOENIX MEDICAL  
IN YET ANOTHER HOSPITAL ROOM  
I SHOULD GET FREQUENT FLYER POINTS FOR THIS

“Mac, buddy, you comin’ back around?” a familiar voice asked. I started to open my eyes before I squeezed them shut against the brightness of the room I was in. “Yeah, I know, buddy, it’s bright. Take your time.” 

“J’ck…” I managed to croak. 

“Oh, kiddo, you need some water.” he said. “Come on, wake up a little more and I’ll give you some of these ice chips that sweetheart of a nurse dropped off.” I blinked a few times, my eyes adjusting slowly to the light. “That’s it.” Jack encouraged. When I finally got my eyes to stay open, Jack was grinning at me, holding a styrofoam cup. “Let’s get some of these down and then I’ll let the doc know that one of our two sleepin’ Sammies is awake.” I chuckled hoarsely. 

“How’s Reena?” I croaked as Jack held out a spoonful of ice chips to me. I took them gratefully, savoring the coldness and the relief they gave as they slid nicely down my throat. 

“She looks like she’ll pull through just fine.” came a voice from off to my other side. I turned to look at Matty. “Thanks to you, Blondie.” I smiled, then my eyes settled above Matty’s head on the other hospital bed. 

“Reena?” I asked. Matty nodded, turning. 

“Docs say she’ll be out for at least the rest of the day, probably the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours.” she said. “But she wouldn’t be waking up at all if it weren’t for that remarkably healthy liver of yours.” I smiled slightly. “Now get some rest, Blondie. Surgery after a stressful day isn’t my idea of a good time. Go back to sleep.” I didn’t want to, but my body had heard the word sleep and decided that that sounded great. Almost against my will, my eyes started falling shut. 

“Sweet dreams, kiddo.” 

BACK AGAIN  
I FEEL MUCH BETTER THIS TIME

“Has Reena woken up at all yet?” I asked almost before I had opened my eyes. 

“She’s stirred a little in her sleep, but she hasn’t tried to open her eyes yet.” Riley said. “How are you feeling? Boze and I missed ya the last time around.” I shifted around a little bit as I looked at Riley. 

“Better than last time.” I said. “I always forget how rough that first wake-up is.” Jack chuckled. 

“You always look so confused at first.” he said. “You kinda look like you got no clue what’s happening but you’re playing along to be polite.” 

“When he woke up from getting his appendix out our junior year of high school, I don’t think he knew where he was for about a day.” Bozer said. “‘Course, that was probably because he’d let it get so bad that he had a raging fever along with appendicitis, but that’s just semantics.” I rolled my eyes. 

“I had a big science fair!” I protested. “I couldn’t miss my tenth straight one.” 

“Let me guess, it was your tenth straight first place ribbon, too?” Matty asked from the doorway. 

“When did you get here?” Bozer demanded, jumping in his seat. 

“Only long enough to hear that, apparently, MacGyver’s always had zero self-preservation instincts.” Matty answered. 

“You’re right about that.” Bozer said, Jack nodding along. “And, yes, it was his tenth straight blue ribbon.” 

“Come on, you don’t need to give them _more_ nerd joke ammunition.” I complained. 

“Well it looks like someone’s feeling a little better than the last time they woke up.” said a new voice from just inside the door. It was a nurse that I recognized as one who’d helped prep me for surgery. 

“Yeah, if he’s back to complaining at us about our jokes, he’ll be just fine.” Jack said. 

“How’s Reena?” I asked, partly to cut Jack off. 

“Well, Sergeant Ryder is responding well to your liver. Sometimes organ recipients can reject the organ, but her body seems to be content to have a liver at all.” the nurse said. “But can we focus on you for just a minute?” she asked. I sighed, making the nurse chuckle. “What’s pain like?” 

“Kinda itchy, but not bad other than a dull ache.” I answered honestly. I knew from experience that lying about my pain wouldn’t end well for anyone. 

“Well that is a very good sign. Your body is handling half a liver just fine, but I would certainly lay off alcohol until your doc clears you. That’ll go for the Sergeant, too.” the nurse said. “I’m nurse Briana, by the way. Feel free to call me nurse Bri. Or just Bri, honestly.” I smiled. “So, listen, I’ll report back to your doc, and he’ll decide if he needs to stop by immediately. It’s pretty busy in here because of recent events, so it may be a while, but he’ll get in here.” Bri promised. “Oh, and Charlie says hello and she also would like me to pass along the fact that she is pissed that you’re in the hospital. Says you and Reena need to be way more careful.” 

“Tell her I’m only in here because I’m being noble and donating half of my liver.” I said, grinning. Bri laughed. 

“I’ll pass that along. In the meantime, your assignment is to heal up so you can make sure the Sergeant stays calm and resting.” she said. “I’ve gotta get going, but I’m liking your recovery path so far, Agent MacGyver.” 

“Mac!” I called after her. 

“You got it!” she called without turning around. 

“There must be a handbook for dealing with you, because every nurse you have is better and better at it.” Riley said. 

“I am not that bad.” I protested, rolling my eyes. “You’re mean.” Riley just laughed. 

“Sure, Nerd.” she answered. Then her eyes became concerned. “Mac, I think you need to rest a little more.” she said. “You’re lookin’ awful pale all of a sudden.” I _hmm_ ed in agreement. 

“I’m pretty tired.” I admitted, settling back into my pillows. “Wake me up if Reena wakes up.” I said before closing my eyes. 

YEP, STILL IN THE HOSPITAL  
THIS TIME THERE’S SOMEONE ELSE TO CALL ME A NERD

“-still in there?” 

“Five more minutes…” I groaned at Jack. 

“Dude, you’re the one who told me to wake you when Reena woke up.” Jack said. That got my attention and I shot up to a sitting position, immediately regretting that decision upon my body reminding me I’d just had a pretty intense surgery. 

“Dude, take it easy. You’ve only got half a liver.” said a voice I’d been afraid I’d never hear again. “And I ain’t givin’ the other half back.” 

“Reena!”

**Author's Note:**

> Can we pls be proud of the fact that I did the thing where you end two chapters with the same word but the context n stuff is completely different and it changes the meaning


End file.
